Thinking Outside the Box
by Moreyrad
Summary: Danny's starting his last year at Casper High, but realizes that he needs to step up his game after seeing that Vlad's been getting stronger. How will he grow stronger if he doesn't know how to discover any new abilities, especially after he gets kicked out of his own home? SmartDanny! New abilities! (Phantom Planet never happened) Helpful Clockwork!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Danny Phantom franchise or any characters from it.**

-Mr. Lancer's English 4 Class-

Today was the first day of the new school year and the students in Mr. Lancer's last class of the day were being treated to his annual opening speech.

"Students, this is your final year here at Casper High and I feel the need to make sure you understand what that means for this class," said Mr. Lancer. "This year's lessons on more advanced forms of closed-form prose will be crucial to those of you who plan on applying to college."

His gaze fell on Dash Baxter playing tic-tac-toe with his friend Kwan in the back row. With a frown and vocal cords ready to be strained, Lancer decided that it was time to make his irritation at being ignored known.

"Mister Baxter and Mister Soung, what could possibly be more important than one of your famous bouts of tic-tac-toe? Please, let me know when you finish so that we may continue discussing everyone's comparatively unimportant futures at a later time!" he yelled.

Dash quickly put away the paper he and Kwan were playing on and sat a little straighter in his chair. Kwan mirrored his friend's actions and tried to look as apologetic as he could. Though the two jocks did not understand some of the words that Lancer used, any idiot could see that they were in trouble.

"Sorry Mr. Lancer, it won't happen again," Dash said.

"See to it that it doesn't, gentlemen," responded Lancer with a stern glare. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes…"

As he continued his speech, Dash's anger got the best of him and he decided to hit Danny Fenton in the seat in front of him right on the head. He whispered to Danny "Way to go, Fentoe-nail, you got me in trouble! You better watch your back because I've got a whole summer's worth of anger issues to let loose on you after class!"

Danny sighed and tried to ignore the pain in his right shoulder. After three years of Dash's bullying, he was used to this. To his left, his best female friend Sam sent him a look that he just couldn't seem to decipher. Was it sympathy? Was it pity? Who knew? Certainly not him. Danny gave up on trying to understand girls a few years ago. To his right was his other friend Tucker, who was currently fiddling with his PDA now that Lancer was facing the board.

He wished school were as simple as ghost hunting. Sure, you had to think on your feet to survive a fight with a ghost, but beating them up and shoving them into the Fenton Thermos was way easier than writing an expository essay using a college-level practice prompt. Danny eyed the chalkboard as he saw Lancer listing the major writing projects that they would be doing this year. Why did it have to be so hard to get into NASA? If he wanted to have any chance at being an astronaut, he'd have to first get accepted into the program. Unfortunately, "college graduate" looked much more convincing on an application than "average high schooler." So, getting into college was the next big milestone he had to reach in order to achieve his dream.

"Mister Fenton?" Lancer asked.

"Huh-what?" Danny responded with his masterful use of the English language.

"I asked if you were paying attention. I can see you were quite riveted by my speech," said Lancer, practically oozing sarcasm. "Please try to pay attention to this information. Excellent writing skills alone might not get you into NASA, but they certainly won't hurt to have once it's time to apply. Unless you've decided to pursue a career at the Nasty Burger, I suggest you put forth some modicum of effort into your schoolwork this year."

Evidently, Lancer had not forgotten Danny's dream of going to space since last year's career workshop.

"Sorry, Mr. Lancer. I was just wondering if we would be doing anything other than practice prompts this year," Danny lied.

"As a matter of fact, Mister Fenton, we will." Lancer responded. "While there will be plenty of practicing, you will also be learning how to structure your essays in a more college-level way. In addition, you will be writing one open-form essay this year that we will discuss at a later date." He then began walking to the front of the class as he resumed his speech.

Danny suddenly let out a small gasp as a blue mist escaped his lips seemingly by surprise. He knew what that meant. How could he not after three years of fighting ghosts? It was time for one of his clever escape plans to unfold so that he could deal with this ectoplasmic pest.

Danny raised his hand and exclaimed, "Mr. Lancer, may I please use the restroom?"

As he continued to talk, Lancer pointed to the bathroom pass – a brass key attached to a piece of cardboard that someone had written "Bathroom" on with a black marker – hanging by a nail near the door. Danny wordlessly got up, pocketing the Fenton Thermos that Tucker passed him, and left the room. Sam and Tucker were so used to this that it was practically routine and not really a very big deal anymore. He speed-walked to the men's restroom and entered an empty stall.

"I'm going ghost," he whispered to himself as he focused on the tingling feeling of transformation into his ghost half. Rings of white energy appeared around him, one above his head and one at his feet. As they traveled upward to meet near his abdomen they altered the molecular structure of his clothing and body, replacing his white shirt and jeans with an ectoplasmic body covered by a black hazmat suit with white boots, belt, gloves, collar, and a DP symbol at the center of his chest. Danny's skin became tan and his black hair turned white as snow. His eyes, formerly an icy blue, now resembled the neon green energy surrounding his hands. A moment later, Danny _Phantom_ was flying through the roof of the school, intangible and invisible to all.

As Danny looked around he saw his old arch-nemesis floating about a two hundred feet above the school. Vlad Masters was a millionaire who gained his riches by possessing many business tycoons in the form of his alter-ego, Vlad Plasmius, and having them hand over their investments to him. Vlad was the very first half ghost hybrid, aka halfa, to ever exist and wore a primarily white outfit with black boots, belt, and gloves to go with his black hair, which was styled in a U shape. He had blue skin and fangs poking out of his mouth that made him look vaguely like a vampire, a comparison which did not amuse Plasmius in the slightest. The red-felt-lined white cape didn't really do him any favors, to be honest. He was also the mayor of Amity Park. Danny flew until he was at the same height, but kept a few meters of distance just in case.

"What do you want, Plasmius? Come to gloat about your latest plan to kill my dad and marry my mom?" Danny yelled out with no small amount of contempt.

Vlad smirked. "Alas, Daniel, I haven't quite worked out the kinks in my next plan. But do not fret, little badger, it will come through in due time. No, actually I was in a good mood today and wanted to extend to you my offer once more. Don't you see the possibilities of having real training from someone who understands you, Daniel? I know what it feels like, just as you do, to experience the difference between mundane humans and ghostly power! I could teach you things you've never even considered possible with that closed-minded mentality of yours. Besides, who cares if your father suffers a mortal injury or two along the way? It's not like he's making any sort of contribution to the collective intelligence of the world."

Danny yawned and placed his hands behind his head. "Blah, blah, blah. Can we skip to the part where I punch you?"

Vlad lost his smile and decided to let his fists do the convincing. "Very well, Daniel," he said. "Let's see how much you've improved since our last battle." He raced toward Danny and unleashed a pink beam from each hand.

Danny brought up an ecto-shield with his hands and phased through Plasmius's body a second before his fist met Danny's face. Becoming tangible once more, he grabbed Plasmius's cape and pulled, bringing his foe to a sudden stop. Quickly, Danny shot a beam of neon green ectoplasmic energy right at Vlad's back.

Plasmius screamed and escaped Danny's hold by becoming intangible. He turned around and landed a punch on Danny's left shoulder. Danny grunted in pain, but dodged the next kick. His reflexes had improved quite nicely over the past few years and Danny was taking less hits than he was dishing out. It looks like all that dodging he had to do as his parents shot at his ghost half came in handy.

He went in for a right cross, but Vlad phased through him and elbowed him in the back. "Not bad, Daniel, but you're not the only one who can go intangible." Danny fell a few meters before regaining his balance and shot an icicle the size of a baseball bat at Plasmius. Unfortunately, his nemesis waved his hand and conjured a pink, spherical shield around himself that protected him from injury. Vlad smiled then and shouted to Danny, "Time to stop fooling around, don't you think?"

Three doppelgangers appeared next to Vlad. Danny knew from experience that doing that split Vlad's power, but made him far more annoying to deal with. White energy surrounded him as he tried to even the odds a little. However, Danny still had not perfected his duplication ability and ended up with one clone who had no arms, a second head coming out of his right knee and four belts on each thigh.

"Aw, crap," exclaimed Danny with disappointment before getting blasted from behind by a pink ecto-sphere.

"Yet another thing I could teach you, if only you became my student. Let's see you get up after this little number!" Vlad yelled triumphantly. He held his hands out, pointing his palms at Danny, and fired a green ball of fire about the size of a car at him.

Thinking quickly, Danny breathed in as deeply as he could and blew an icy gust of wind and snow at the fireball. The two attacks met and created a hefty amount of steam, blocking Danny's vision. Two thin purple beams cut through the veil of water vapor and knocked Danny down to street level, where he crashed into a car in the school parking lot. Getting up, he saw Plasmius appear in a whirlwind of pink smoke.

"Isn't it exciting, Daniel?" Vlad asked with an elated attitude. "I've come across my innate elemental affinity to fire and it's so much fun testing my new limits!"

Danny looked at Vlad with an annoyed face. "It doesn't exactly light a fire in my heart, Fruitloop."

Plasmius snarled at the halfa that dared mock him with such a poorly thought-out pun. He stomped his right foot on the parking lot ground and caused a geyser of ecto-fire to erupt beneath Danny.

Had Danny not gone intangible, he was sure that he'd be sporting some nasty burns. He had to end this before any civilians got hurt. Danny shot forth like a bullet, ramming into a surprised Plasmius at max speed and carried him away from the school to the rooftop of the tallest skyscraper in Amity. The two halfas had just left the block when Mr. Lancer exited the school and arrived at the parking lot, only to see that his car was destroyed beyond repair.

"Alice in Wonderland! I just finished paying that off!" Lancer exclaimed as he fell to his knees.

-Skyscraper Rooftop-

Danny stopped on top of the skyscraper and backed away from Vlad, gathering energy into his vocal chords. Plasmius knew what would happen next and put up the strongest dome-shaped ecto-barrier he could muster before covering his ears.

The Ghostly Wail was Danny's strongest attack and the aftermath left behind after its use proved why he was one of the most feared ghosts in the Ghost Zone. The attack decimated Vlad's shield, throwing the evil halfa into a sonic vortex of ectoplasmic agony. He was screaming, but his pain went unheard as every window within a block of the skyscraper shattered all at once.

Fifteen seconds of unbearable torment later, Danny stopped attacking and fell to his knees in exhaustion.

"Well, at least it didn't take _all_ my energy this time. Practice makes perfect, I guess," Danny muttered to himself.

Vlad was slowly getting up from his previous position on the ground, his suit torn and ragged.

"I will find a way to defeat that attack one of these days, Daniel! Mark my words! Then, you'll be helpless to watch as I kill Jack and make Maddie mine. But as it seems that day is not today, we will meet again!" Vlad yelled before teleporting away.

Danny took out an earpiece with the name "Fenton" on it from a compartment in his belt and pressed a button on it to turn it on. "Tucker, Sam, you guys there?" Danny asked.

He heard Sam's voice first. "What kind of question is that? Of course we're here. We've been waiting for you to call since you left Lancer's class!"

"Forgot to put on your earpiece, dude?" asked Tucker.

"No, I just didn't have time." Danny sighed. "Plasmius came to fight and field test his new fire powers."

"Are you alright, Danny?" Sam always worried for his safety.

"I'm alright. Exhausted, since I used my Ghostly Wail to end the fight, but I've been worse."

Tucker then spoke while making sure that his first aid kit was in his backpack. "That's great news, man! We've got your stuff by the way. We're headed to your house. Meet up there for a patch-up and debrief?"

"He's not a soldier, Tuck, he's a teenager who should be focusing on getting into college rather than fighting off ghosts. I still think you should let us fight with you again," Sam complained.

She and Danny had had this conversation many times before. "After the 'Dark Dan' incident, I refuse to put you guys in danger against enemies with powers that you can't defend yourselves from."

Sam sighed. "We'll talk later, Danny." She hung up.

"Later, dude." There went Tucker.

Danny sighed and flew back home to FentonWorks. Landing in an alley behind the house, he transformed back to his human form and made his way around the building to go in through the front door. He did not, however, notice the camera with the name "Fenton" on it attached to the second floor wall of FentonWorks that was pointed at that very same alley.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this chapter took so long, guys. I've been dealing with a loss of inspiration as well as some** _ **major**_ **college tuition issues. Add to that my first job (which I got to help pay off my tuition) and I've barely even got the ability to think with so much stress. But enough about me, let's talk shop. This chapter has taken me** _ **forever**_ **to finish and I'm still not satisfied with my writing, but I guess that's normal for writers. Anybody know how to help me slow down my fic? Because I feel as if the characters are moving far too quickly from one point in the plot to another with barely anything in-between. Does that simply improve gradually as I continue writing? If anyone has any tips for writing, brainstorming, or, hell, even a tasty recipe for me to try and cook, please let me know :) Now, on with the show!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Danny Phantom franchise or any characters from it.**

Danny closed the front door behind him as he entered FentonWorks. He was almost tired enough to fall asleep right then and there, but his dry throat was aching for a cup of water.

' _Water first, then sleep,'_ Danny thought. As he walked into the kitchen, he saw his parents at the table looking at the screen of a white laptop that had the name "Fenton" on it in green letters.

"Danny! You're just in time to check out our newest invention!" exclaimed Jack Fenton with glee.

Maddie smiled at the screen. "We've managed to make an optical lens that filters light through a paper-thin layer of ectoplasm."

Jack opened the fridge and took out a block of fudge. "This calls for celebratory fudge! Now that we have this new ecto-cam, there's not a single spook we can't see in our neighborhood. Those ghosts think they're so sneaky, what with their invisibility and possessions. But they've never had to deal with the likes of Jack Fenton!" he shouted.

Danny smiled at his father's enthusiasm. He took a look at the laptop screen and saw 8 different windows showing different parts of the neighborhood. One of those was the alley he had just transformed in a few minutes ago. He'd have to be more careful from now on and revert to his human form at _least_ two blocks away to avoid detection. He looked to his mother, who was busy fiddling with a security camera with the name "Fenton" on it.

"So, mom, when does this system go online?" he asked.

Maddie looked at her son and smiled. "It's been online for about an hour, sweetie. We haven't seen any ghosts yet, but to be honest we haven't been watching the live footage because we were so busy setting up the software."

Danny's smile disappeared as he looked at the laptop. On the outside, he didn't seem to be distressed. On the inside, however, Danny was panicking over the thought that his parents would see his transformation and find out his secret. Now sounded like an excellent time to retreat to his bedroom and figure out how to get to those files when his parents weren't looking. Perhaps he could go ghost and go into the computer like that one time when he played "DOOM®" with Tuck and Sam. No, wait, the new cameras were likely scattered around the house too. Destroying the laptop where the video files were kept was always an option, but that would draw too much attention. There was also always the chance that they had it all backed up on their personal Fenton Server. Maybe he could convince them to let him look through the files and fiddle with the program so he could "get to know the ins and outs of the program in case of emergencies" and then _accidentally_ delete the one that recorded his transformation.

Danny got up to begin walking to his room, contemplating how to fix this mess and keep his secret intact. He stopped, however, before exiting the kitchen through the door that led to the living room. A chill went up his spine as he heard the sound of the two white rings of ectoplasmic energy that always rearranged his molecules coming from the laptop on the kitchen table. His heart was a drum, pounding in his ears to a restless beat. He turned to his side and looked back at the horrified expressions on the faces of the two human beings that had raised him; the two human beings that gave him chicken soup with a side of fudge when he was sick and helped him get over his fear of the dark all those years ago with a night-light that had the name "Fenton" on it. He struggled to explain what the accident with the Fenton Ghost Portal had done to him all those years ago, but his body refused to respond.

Maddie was the first to react. She jumped back, took out an ecto-gun from _somewhere_ (he never did learn how everyone in his family could do that) and pointed it right at his head. She screamed at him with a hatred that only a parent mourning a lost child could produce.

"What have you done to our baby boy, you foul manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness?!"

Jack was a little slow on the uptake, but the look of sheer unadulterated rage soon appeared on the man's face. A Jack o' Nine Tails now joined Maddie's ecto-gun on the list of weapons that were currently threatening Danny's life.

"Tell us where our son is, ghost, or face the wrath of Jack Fenton!"

There it was. Regardless of how much faith his sister, Jazz, had in their parents, there was the rejection that he _knew_ would hit him one day. That day had now come, yet he still wasn't ready. Who would have thought, after all those years of carefully and meticulously guarding it, that his secret identity would be revealed by the most classic secret-exposing device that existed: a security camera. Somehow, Danny had thought it would have been after a very long explanation on his part or, worst-case scenario, being caught transforming as he faints after risking his life to save theirs. This, however, seemed so sudden and out-of-the-blue compared to all the possible scenarios that he had come up with over the years.

"M-mom, dad…it's still me. I'm still Danny. I'm just half ghost. I swear I'm still your son! The portal changed me!" Danny explained with as much conviction as he could muster.

His battle instincts, unfortunately, told him that he would have to dodge, and dodge he did. Blasts of hot ectoplasm and the crack of a nine-tailed whip became the only sounds in the kitchen as it became a battle ground that Danny now had to survive. Four blasts from his mother would have ended his life had Danny not ducked and rolled to his left. As he sprang up he yelled out, "Wait!" only to scream in agony as one of the tails on Jack's whip electrocuted his right leg.

"Where's Danny, you creep?!" questioned Jack.

Danny turned intangible for a second to avoid an ecto-shot from his mother before responding. "I am your son! I was in the portal when it turned on for the first time and it made me half ghost!"

Maddie would hear none of his pleas. She bolted over the table and engaged Danny in physical combat. Suddenly, those martial arts lessons that she had taught Danny since he could walk began to pay off as he blocked every blow he couldn't dodge.

"My son isn't a freak like you, InvisoBill!" Maddie roared.

Tears blurred his vision as he conjured an ecto-shield and used it to push his mother back a few feet. Without a word, Danny transformed into his ghost form and flew through the floor of the kitchen. Arriving at the basement, he stopped before the doors of the Fenton Ghost Portal. For some reason, it had never seemed as menacing as it did this very moment. Its black and yellow striped doors looked strange and unforgiving. Is this what his enemies felt like when he ejected the contents of the Fenton Thermos into the portal? Well, at least _they'd_ be happy that he wouldn't be around to do that anymore. He was going to miss just about everything from his now old life. He'd miss hanging out with Sam and Tucker in his room and being forced to listen to his parents explain their new ghost-related invention with the name "Fenton" on it. He'd miss laying in his bed at night, looking at his posters of NASA and his model rocket while thinking about what it would be like to ride a space shuttle to the moon. Most of all, he'd miss his mom and dad.

The door to the basement slammed open and Maddie jumped in, now wielding the Fenton Grappler.

"I'm going to tear you apart molecule by molecule until you tell us what you've done with our son, ghost!"

Maddie then shot the Grappler's net at Danny, which he phased through with minimal effort. His eyes were a whirlpool of negative emotions and his flushed cheeks were painted porcelain white by the streaks of his tears, but Danny forced himself to keep his emotions in check. With a cold and stony face, he looked back at his mother and whispered one last sentence to her.

"He's dead."

Danny then flew through the portal at top speed in order to get as far away from there as possible. He didn't see the woman who gave him life drop to her knees in grief as he sped through the Ghost Zone in search of a certain someone's lair. Tears fell freely from Danny's eyes, but he paid them no mind. He felt far too numb to care that he was being stared at by every ghost that he flew past at his max speed. What he had told Maddie was true in his eyes. Danny Fenton was dead.

-Clockwork's Clock Tower-

The ghost of time gazed at one of the many screens in his tower. This one showed young Daniel Fenton in his ghost form speeding through the Ghost Zone, an aura of misery keeping other ghosts at bay. Clockwork sighed as he turned from his baby form into his adult form. He knew where Danny was headed. How could he not? He could always see everything that was, is, and will be. Every timeline that could possibly exist was his to analyze and manipulate so that they end up exactly as they should. Usually, all he had to do was put someone in the right place at the right time to make things go smoothly. Any small event could drastically alter the current timeline and completely change the future. Large events, of course, had a tendency to do just that with near absolute certainty. It seemed that one of those small events had just taken place without any of his interference. He certainly wouldn't complain about one less thing to take care of.

Clockwork glanced to his left, where he knew the room with Dark Dan existed. Looking back at the screen in front of him, Clockwork smiled as he saw Danny turn right at the at the giant floating rock that looked like an orangutan hugging a boulder (or so he was told), headed right towards his lair rather than Vlad Masters's portal. It would seem that the young halfa had learned from his encounter with Dan. Clockwork knew that he had to help Danny get his bearings and find a new place to live. Well, Danny _was_ technically a ghost and therefore did have his own doorway in the Ghost Zone. It was simply important that he live with his parents until they found out about his secret so that the timeline would flow smoothly. His body shifted into its eldest form as he mumbled to himself.

"Everything is as it should be."

He knew the Observers would have a fit over what he was about to do. But then again, he knew everything.

Half an hour later, Danny arrived at Clockwork's clock tower and opened the door. He honestly didn't know who else to go to for help. He knew that he should under no circumstances attempt to get help from Vlad. They weren't exactly on the best terms and he still had vivid nightmares about the evil version of him from that other future. Sam and Tucker would have their own parents to deal with if he dragged them into this mess, so he decided to seek help from the one being that was somewhat of a mentor to him: Clockwork.

He entered the tower and made his way to the main room. Screens of all shapes and sizes floated just about everywhere showing different timelines and possible futures. Once Danny reached the room where Clockwork usually roamed, he looked around and found caught a glimpse of the ghost's purple cloak floating near the top of the room. He flew towards Clockwork as said ghost turned to face him and shifted into his baby form.

"Hello, Danny," greeted Clockwork.

Danny waved at him. "Hi, Clockwork. I assume you know why I'm here."

"Indeed I do. You are here because you ran away from home on account of the fact that your parents did not take the news about your secret identity very well. Now you seek my help in finding somewhere to live as well as advice on what to do now that you've lost your normal lifestyle. Am I correct?"

"You know you are," replied Danny. "You know everything. Ever thought about maybe getting a girl? You have way too much spare time." A small smile weaseled its way onto Danny's face after that joke.

"I do recall telling you once that I'm the Ghost of Time, not the Ghost of Miracle Cures." Danny looked apologetic and began to doubt his judgment to come here.

"I know, but I was hoping you might have at least one miracle cure." At this point, Danny was beginning to formulate a new plan to get help before Clockwork interrupted his thoughts.

"As a matter of fact, I actually do have a solution to your housing problem. You see, Danny, all ghosts have their own door in the Ghost Zone. Each door leads to a ghost's own personal pocket dimension within the Ghost Zone. You are no exception. Your door is actually not too far from Pandora's realm. I can send you there directly through one of my portals. As to what to do with your afterlife, I recommend you find a hobby to occupy your time."

Danny was surprised that Clockwork actually had a quick and easy fix for his issue. Usually, he had to fly through metaphorical hoops just to get anything done and find out afterward that Clockwork did all that just to teach him a lesson. It was kind of annoying, to be honest, but he'd come to expect it from his mentor after all this time. Hell, the very reason why he thought Clockwork as his guiding figure is because he did more to teach him necessary lessons than anyone sans his parents. Jazz did her best, but she just didn't have Clockwork's wisdom and let-him-learn mentality. She wanted to teach him life lessons whenever she found an opportunity.

"A hobby? How's that gonna help?"

The Ghost of Time shifted to his adult form. "All ghosts have some sort of obsession. It is part of what binds a person's spirit to this dimension post-mortem rather than let them fully die. While protecting Amity Park from daily ghost attacks takes up much of your time, it's not exactly relaxing. I suggest you take up a hobby that makes you happy. Too much stress can, after all, have some unfavorable effects on a being's mind."

Danny was glad that he was actually getting some news that weren't absolutely horrible. ' _Finally,_ _ **something**_ _goes right.'_ But something just didn't add up.

"Hey, Clockwork, I have a question. If I've had a door here in the Ghost Zone all this time, then how come you didn't tell me that in the alternate timeline where I turned evil so that I didn't have to go to Vlad?"

"You did not know me at the time and had no reason to trust me. Therefore, you would have gone to Plasmius anyway in search of comfort." Clockwork changed into his eldest form. "Furthermore, you would not have learned how important it is that you hold on to your humanity. It's your lack of humanity that turned you evil in that timeline to begin with. Additionally, I was trying to make sure that the timeline flows as smoothly as possible. Having you acquire your ability to produce a sonic attack by imbuing your vocal chords with ectoplasm while screaming will make things much easier for both of us in the years to come."

Danny glared at Clockwork. " _Thank you_ , Clockwork, for that very _educational_ lesson. Maybe next time you can hide your secret problem solver directly behind me." ' _Oh, sarcasm, my sweet delight.'_

The elder ghost smiled at Danny and snapped his fingers. Like a servant heeding its master's call, one of the floating, round screens flew toward the two ghosts and stopped next to the ghost of time.

"Let's get you to your new home, Danny. I think you'll find it to your liking."

The screen became foggy before clearing up to show a wooden door floating in the vast green emptiness that was the Ghost Zone. It was painted a light-blue with a round top and a small window near the top. Danny smiled bitterly as he saw a replica of the door that he had, for all his life, associated with the concept of "home."

"Thanks, Clockwork."

With that brief expression of gratitude said, Danny flew through the screen and towards his new home.


End file.
